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Tag: Affordable Care Act

I think President Obama was wrong to hold off enacting the Affordable Care Act for another year. I think the past three years have been long enough for people to wait for health insurance.

Last year was a great year for my employment, but a bad year for hospital bills. I was working for a contract company and my expensive health insurance didn’t cover an emergency room visit. According to them, I went over my coverage. Go figure – I was supposed to have $15,000 worth of coverage. Instead, I was socked with the full visit price and was handed a $4,000 bill.

But wait, there’s more.

When I switched from one contract position to another contract position, I changed insurance companies. On March 5, I fell and sliced my right knee from one side to the other. It turns out I didn’t have any insurance – due to no fault of mine – and there went another $2,000 bill.

I can’t imagine what would happen to someone who doesn’t have the earning potential that I have. I’ll be able to pay these two bills off in due time, but what about the family who can’t? Our health care costs are rising at an alarming rate and families end up losing their homes to medical bills.

When one family loses, we all lose. If a hospital doesn’t collect what it is due, then it doesn’t make any money – no money, no health care. It’s a sad fact of life.

Putting off the Affordable Care Act for another year isn’t going to help. The Republican Party wasting millions of our dollars to try to repeal more than 39 times is ridiculous. People need to be insured and this is a way to do it and we just might save some money in the long run.

Fact: By 2014, all 50 states have to have their health care exchanges up and running. If they don’t, the Federal Government will step in and take control.

Fact: By 1/1/2013, all 50 states have to have a plan in place on just how they’re going to create these exchanges.

Fact: Scott Walker doesn’t like Federal Government Control and yet, he is putting off beginning the work on the exchanges until after the November election. He’s probably thinking that Romney will win and he’ll never have to put it in place.

Opinion: Scott Walker is a dofus who doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground. It’s too bad the man kept his throne in the Wisconsin State House, because he’s going to screw us like he is the Marquis De Sade.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek (August 13 – 26, 2012), “only 18 states had even started putting in place the …health benefit exchanges.” That’s one eight, people. One of those states is Wisconsin. The article states: “The Republican governors of six states are simply refusing to create the exchanges…” And, our Governor is one of them.

Apparently, Scott Walker wants to wait until the outcome of the November election (see article here) to act on creating an exchange. He also ” turned down $38 million in federal money that could have gone to implementing the federal health care law in Wisconsin.”

Does he even have a clue about what setting up a health exchange will entail? First, you need an interface that end users (that’s us) can interact with to pick out the insurance, actually, that would be second. First, you need the list of insurance companies, plans and rates that will be sold. Then, an end user interface. Then, you need for this software, database, etc. to interact with Medicare and Medicaid. You need an interface for the insurance companies. You need an interface for the government employees that will have to assist people signing up for insurance. You need all of this to speak to the Federal Government’s computers.

And, you need money to create it, run it and maintain it. So you really shouldn’t turn down $38 million from the Federal Government earmarked to help you do just that.

You need Business Analysts who can talk with all the parties to see how this can be put together – that can’t be done in a day.

And, Walker thinks he can wait until after November to do it.

The man is doesn’t understand the value of making it easier for people to purchase insurance. And, he doesn’t understand the value of getting this project off the ground. He doesn’t see the big picture.

Our state is still losing jobs and Scott Walker wants to put this off as long as he can. Let me explain the big picture:

Setting up a healthcare exchange requires (at the very least) the following:

1. Business Analysts

2. Project Managers

3. Quality Assurance Testers

4. Database Administrators

5. Data Analysts

6. Web Designers

7. Network Engineers

8. Web Services Programmers

9. Computer Programmers

10. Managers

11. Administrative Assistants

12. Technical Writers

When your state leads the nation in job losses, a project like this can put a lot of people to work, which in turn creates demand in the economy. Think about it, when one person is working their money (i.e., wages) spreads through their community. They pay their rent or mortgage – rent is better, as the money goes to a landlord, who then spreads it out. But, a mortgage payment means a bank has money to lend (in a very simplistic view). They purchase gas at their local station. They buy groceries at their local market. They take their family out to dinner. They purchase new clothes and, this is personal, they purchase new programming books. (I’ve never started a new project without purchasing a book.) $10 here, $20 over there and pretty soon demand is up again.

But, Scott Walker is sitting on his hands, ignoring the Federal Government Mandate and hoping it just goes away. He has to have the plan in place by January 1,2013. Walker’s hoping that 1/20/2013 will bring in a new President and he won’t have to follow the law. Romney’s not going to win, our country can’t be that full of stupid people. But, even if he does win, the Affordable Care Act won’t disappear that face and Scott Walker will be breaking the law. Oh – one more little item – Walker proclaims that he doesn’t want Federal Government interference, but the Feds will take this over if he doesn’t comply. Why would you want to give up control of something so momentousness? Could it be that Scott Walker is out of his realm? That he cannot get this job done, because he is an uneducated man who doesn’t know how to run a project?

Thanks, Governor Walker. I cannot tell you how much I hang my head in shame that my fellow Wisconsinites voted for you not once, but twice. God help us all.